Discord makes voice and video calls more private by default, but what about text messages?
Starting today, end-to-end encryption is now standard for every voice and video call on Discord, except for so-called stage channels. No opt-in is required.
The Discord Inc. website on a laptop computer. Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg via Getty.
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Starting today, end-to-end encryption is now standard for every voice and video call on Discord, except for so-called stage channels. No opt-in is required.
In August 2023, Discord said it would experiment with end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls on its platform.
One year later, in September 2024, the messaging platform introduced the DAVE protocol, an open, audited end-to-end encryption protocol for audio and video on desktop and mobile. The following year, the DAVE protocol was extended to every remaining platform, including web browsers, gaming consoles, and support for Discord bots and apps.
At the beginning of March 2026, that integration was fully completed. Mark Smith, Vice President of Core Technology at Discord, says he’s proud of what his team has accomplished.
“Building an E2EE protocol that works seamlessly across all of those surfaces simultaneously is, to my knowledge, unlike anything else that’s been shipped. DAVE is likely one of the internet’s most platform-diverse E2EE voice and video implementations,” he says in a company blog post.
Although voice calls and videos are end-to-end encrypted, stage channels remain the exception.
“Those are designed for broadcasting to larger audiences, such as live events, AMAs, or community town halls. The architecture reflects that: E2EE helps protect personal conversations, and Stage channels aren't designed for that,” Smith explains.
What about text messages? Will they be end-to-end encrypted as well in the future? The answer is no.
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“We have no current plans to extend E2EE to text messages. Many of the features people use on Discord were built on the assumption that text isn’t end-to-end encrypted, and rebuilding them to work with encryption is a meaningful engineering challenge. ”
Discord is a communication platform where people can chat by text, voice, and video. Initially, it started for gamers, but today it’s used by all kinds of communities, including friends, schools, hobby groups, companies, study groups, and online creators.
As of 2026, Discord has over 200 million monthly active users.
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